1962 Ford Thunderbird Convertible

While celebrating America's Independence we will take a look at an American beauty, the 1962 Ford Thunderbird. Created by Lewis Crusoe, a GM executive, George Walker, a chief stylist at Ford, and Frank Hershey, another designer at Ford. The concept Thunderbird started out as an open two passenger sporting vehicle with a V8 engine. The Thunderbird has Native American accents; however, it’s not clear if the inspiration came from the Indians of the Southwest, who used birds in their art to convey the meaning of “carefree and summer”, or an area in California’s Rancho Mirage called Thunderbird Heights. This particular model is part of the “Bullet Bird” styling (1961-1963) with production records of 78,000 including 9,884 convertibles. Elvis Presley owned a T-Bird and it was a popular feature of US President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural parade. The American Classic that hit the Detroit Auto Show in 1954 lives strong with over 4.2 million Thunderbirds sold over the past 50 years.